Boop is an adorable Smirk & Dagger game of cats trying to sit on a bed. The rules are simple, but the implications of those rules make for a very strategic game with surprising depth.
The basics are simple: players take turns placing kittens on a bed. Every time a kitten is placed on the bed, every kitten adjacent (vertically, horizontally, and diagonally) gets “booped” one square away from the placed kitten. Kittens can be “booped” right off the edge of the bed!
However, if there’s already a kitten on the opposite side of a kitten from the “booping” cat, the “boop” doesn’t happen. That kitten remains where it is since it can’t be “booped” into another kitten.
If you line up three kittens (after all the booping has been done), all three kittens graduate up to cats. Cats are bigger than kittens; they can’t be “booped” by kittens. Cats, however, can “boop” both kittens and cats.
If you line up three cats (or have all eight of your cats) on the bed, you win!
The ideas of the game are simple enough, but they produce surprising strategic depth. You can’t just place one kitten next to another to try and create a line, since placing a kitten “boops” the kitten next to it. The trick is to arrange things where “booping” can’t happen, or to “boop” the last kitten into place to create a row of three. Trying to move cats is more difficult, since kittens can’t “boop” them; they can only be “booped” by other cats. So it requires a lot of thinking ahead to get our felines in the right position, and the whole time your opponent will be “booping” your felines right along with theirs. It’s very much like… Actually, it’s exactly like trying to herd cats! You can deny your opponent certain places on the board by arranging things so placing their cat or kitten in that space will “boop” one of yours into a lineup of three. And that’s only scratching the surface of this clever and cute game.
Boop is played by two players, and a game typically lasts less than a half-hour of play, meaning you can play it multiple times in an evening. The art is adorable, “booping” felines around the bed is cute, and the strategy requires thinking ahead multiple moves to get your “boops” in just the right places. Talk to the cat-friends at your local Dragon’s Lair Games & Fantasy® today about adding Boop to your collection.
